<«") 
mortified, not in frnalland clear fphericai figures f which is a good prog- 
rioftick ) but in the form of long worms of a wan , pale,dark and Ieadiui 
colour, then fick Mercury is eafily cur'd of the worms ( as they fpeak) 
by certain Magiftrals, fo called , that are diverfly compounded, but 
have for their tofts or matter ingredient calcin'd Copper mingled with 
Salt. Thefe worms indicate, that the Mineral abounds with Lead and 
Pewter , which overcharging the ftomack (thus they carry on the Meta- 
phor) of Mercury , hinder his appetite to the filver ; in which cafe,thofe 
Coppa-Magiftrals with their vitriolick force confume and dettroy this 
impediment. 
The heaps of the Ore being thus mingled with Quick-filver , they are 
©ften ftirr'd about 9 the better to incorporate it with the filver. 1 find , 
they have none but conjectural fignes to know , when the Mercury hath 
mtirely perform'd its office in fepa rating all the filver from thofe hetero- 
genial fubftances , the uncertainty whereof occafions often very great 
loffes, efpecially when they work about Gold : for in palling the right 
time, the greateft part of the Gold flyes away in a fume, becaufe, to 
borrow the reafon of Chymitts, Summo voUtills fuperat fummam fixi ^ 
or rather becaufe Nature hath not yet accompfifht the perfect compofition 
and proportionate mixture of the volatile Elements with the fixt: which 
defect is fupply'd by Art in this extraction by Mercury, in whofe bofom 
the parts are combined together in fmall Atoms andalfo by gentle fires , 
lucceeded by violent ones, whofe activity is a/Tifled by Ingredients, fit 
for a futableand eafie fufion, and fo curbing the volatile parts, that by 
a:n exquifite proportion they enter a perpetual amity with the fixe. 
When by the colour of Mercury , coagulated by the filver in clear 
anally lumps, they conjecture the work done , they wafh it by means of 
three veffels, (landing in order one under the other- fo that the matter 
kuke firft and higheft veffel being wafhed and ftirred about with a Mo'i- 
net y ali the d'uft of the heterogeneous Minerals , that imbody not with 
the Mercury, is carried away together with the water into the other 
Yeffels, and from thence quite thro w T n out by the continual current of the 
w iter ; whereas in the mean while the filver in clotted lumps , called 
selLis, is by the weight of the Mercury deprefled dowu to the bottom of 
d&£ faid tubhv 
This lavatory work being ended , the Mercury with the filver is taken 
out of the Veffels, and diligently fqueezed in courfe and ftrong linnen , 
and even with ftroaks of a beetle , the Quick-filver is feparated, as much, 
as may be/rom the Silver. And this ma 6 is afterwards reduced in molds of 
she flupeofthe Indian Pine-apple , into a pyramidal or conical figure ? , 
which they all Pineas deplata r thus fafhion'd for the eafier placing them 
round about the ridges of a great earthen veffel , of the form of a blind 
Alembeck- round about the, top of wiich,. a firje hejngraade, alitherefl 
